World Literature against the Background of the Other
World Literature against the Background of the Other

Summary/Abstract: The word Weltliteratur, “world literature,” is a coinage of Goethe. He used it publicly for the first time in the beginning of 1827. Since then, the term has appeared in his statements, approximately twenty in number, yet it seems as if the unfinished happening of world literature were both a cause and at the same time a justification for vagueness which, on the other hand, contributed to the dynamic Wirkungsgeschichte of its concept. In some of his statements about world literature, Goethe still talks about national literatures. He does not abolish these in his concept of world literature. But if he mentions only the literatures of big European nations in this connection, this does not necessarily mean that he is excluding[…]

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